The Lower Pool of Solomon
The above view of the lowest and most extensive of the Pools of Solomon gives one an idea of the masonry used in the structure of this remarkable reservoir. Our artist stood upon a hill to the north of this pool. You may see in the picture our horses and dragoman down in the valley, and the few people at the further corner of the pool look like Liliputians. To the south beyond we see one of the Judean hills. If this reservoir were full it would float one of the largest of ocean steamers. In the narrow valley a short distance below the pools is the little village of Urtâs, with ancient ruins, which is supposed to be the Etham where Josephus says were the Gardens of Solomon. There are gardens and fountains there at this day, and it is very probable that upon those fertile slopes running down to the green cup of the hills lay the vineyards, orchards and pleasure grounds of Solomon; and he, walking through his great plantations here, may have communed with his own spirit and arrived at the solution of the problem that “all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Perhaps here after the cares of state he “went down into the garden of nuts to see the green plants of the valley; to see whether the rose budded and the pomegranates were in flower.” Near by on the summit of her hill, “clothed with the olive, vine and figs,” sits “the little town of Bethlehem,” where in a low khan was born “a greater than Solomon,” who “opened a fountain in the house of David for sin and uncleanness.”
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